Seeing the good in the bad
by philipp68
A short introduction how dualistic thinking can make us unhappy.
Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Buddhism, Dualism, The middle way, Wisdom
The Jar of Life: First things First
by philipp68
When life overwhelms us, when our mind is a whirlwind of thoughts and we are afraid to go under, it is important to refocus on what is truly important and dear to us. The story of the “Jar of Life” tells us that even if our life feels full, there is always room for an evening with friends or family. Why stories are important When life gets tough a simple, well told story or metaphor can help us look at […]
Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Decision, Wisdom
The Pleasure Purpose Principle
by philipp68
What is Happiness? We all want to be happy. But what is happiness? In his recent book, Happiness by Design Paul Dolan gives a very nice definition of happiness: happiness is experiences of pleasure and purpose over time. Happiness Happens in the Present Moment I like this definition because it doesn’t turn happiness into an abstract concept. Instead, it emphasizes that how we lead our lives, what we turn our attention to, the activities we engage in, or our ability to open up […]
Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Happiness, Mind
How about taking the day off?
by philipp68
A short conversation between body and consciousness
Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Body, Consciousness, Doing, Intuition, Memory, Mind
I see
by philipp68
Short story to help us appreciate the moments in our life, when we manage to go beyond judging and controlling everything we experience
Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Buddhism, Compassion, Ego, Meditation, Mind
What is your leadership style?
by philipp68
Learn how your leadership style can help to shape a playful problem solving environment.
Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Culture, Leaders, Meetings
Lead in the now
by philipp68
Here a few thoughts how our individual history, our past can influence our ability to create a better future. Deciding based on past experiences By putting yourself, your history, at the center of your decisions, you let your past shape everyone’s future. You unconsciously create boundaries within everyone has to operate, because you’re trying to protect your colleagues from repeating your own, bad experiences. Trying to protect the people you’re supposed to lead is the right thing to do. But we should remind ourselves […]
Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Attachment, Attitude, Leaders, Modern Workplace
Be the leader you want to follow
by philipp68
I believe that to become better leaders we should look back at the people who inspired us, at the people who helped us to be where we are today. If we can learn from them, we might inspire others to follow us As Simon Sinek explained in his famous TED talk: We follow those who lead not for them, but for ourselves. Choosing a career I think I would never have entered the world of software engineering, if it hadn’t been for […]
Categories: Life & Work
On Emotional Intelligence: Self-Awareness
by philipp68
Our ability to monitor our own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide our thinking and actions, is called emotional intelligence (Salovey and Mayer, 1990). Reading the article “What Makes a Leader?” by Daniel Goleman, I had the idea to capture the five basic emotional intelligence skills in the form of iconic images. This sketch represents the first dimension of emotional intelligence, self-awareness. I hope these images will remind you to […]
Categories: Sketch • Tags: Emotion, Emotional Intelligence, Mind
Sketch: Rolling along
by philipp68
The last post was about the essence of leadership. But what happens when you step into the unknown? Inspired by Shel Silverstein’s beautiful allegory The Missing Piece Meets the Big O2 I drew the following sketch about the process of learning. Learning is an emotional roller coaster. Afraid of failure we will hesitate to start. Why not wait another month to collect more data for the journey ahead? The first step will take a lot of courage, because we will feel that […]
Categories: Sketch • Tags: Fear, Modern Workplace, Wisdom
Comic: What is a Leader?
by philipp68
These last couple of weeks I have been spending a lot of time discussing what it needs to create a work environment where people can thrive. Here a short comic style summary, what I learned about leadership. I strongly believe that a great work environment is a place where everyone is encouraged to lead. It’s a place where you’re asked to dream about where you would like to go and find time and space to share what you believe in […]
Categories: Comic • Tags: Emotion, Fear, Heart, Leaders, Mind, Modern Workplace, Teaching
Sketch: The dance of mind, hand and heart
by philipp68
Creating is a dance between mind, hand and heart. It does not matter what we do nor how good we’re at it. The dance is always the same. I strongly believe that the key to happier work is to learn how to let this internal dance happen in a way so that mind, hand and heart all get their turn. Let’s dance Let’s have a look at today’s sketch. It shows hand, mind and heart dancing together, creating a drawing. […]
Categories: Sketch • Tags: Action, Heart, Mind, Modern Workplace, Wisdom
Sketch: The cycle of life
by philipp68
Last week’s sketch showed a parachuter slowly gliding towards earth, symbolising the idea that our life starts when we’re born and ends when we die. With this sketch of a Dandelion plant I would like to invite you to look at life as something beyond conscious thought. I think, therefore I am How do we know that we exist? In 1637 René Descartes answered this question with the famous sentence “I think, therefore I am”. He wanted to assure us […]
Categories: Sketch • Tags: Aging, Consciousness
Sketch: Getting older
by philipp68
I’m around 50. The age when life gently reminds us, that our body and our mind age at different speeds. To learn what it means to grow older, I decided to do a couple of drawings that show different aspects of aging. Experiencing Happiness-Sadness With these drawings I would like to invite you to lean into the uncomfortable realisation, that one day we all will die. I’m convinced that by allowing the feelings of fear, loss and sadness to wash […]
Sketch: A great guide
by philipp68
I believe that having a great guide on your side makes it so much easier to appreciate an art exhibition. It’s the same in our lives: Having someone pointing out what we would have otherwise missed, makes it easier to see the magic in life. Visiting an exhibition Last Sunday we took a guided tour to see Steve McCurry’s famous photographs. I had strolled through the exhibition before. But his time, with an excellent storyteller on our side, the whole experience […]
Sketch: What do you do?
by philipp68
We often define ourselves by what we do. For many of us this is a paid job, raising a family or taking care of a loved one. I believe a first step towards more job satisfaction is to stop judging ourselves by what we do and instead use our work as an opportunity to get to know who we are. Job snobbery We live in a world where the first thing we’re often asked is: “What do you do?” Alain de […]
Categories: Sketch • Tags: Attitude, Ego, Mind, Modern Workplace
Sketch: In praise of idleness
by philipp68
With my first job after university my father gave me B. Russel’s collection of essays In praise of Idleness. I think it was his way of telling me: “There is much more to life than work.” I tried to capture the feeling of blissfull idleness in today’s sketch. Want to feel the same? Just lay back and do nothing. Namaste
Sketch: The art of un-freakability
by philipp68
I believe we can only learn the art of un-freakability by turning everyday challenges into moments of practice. If we use these everyday experiences to grow stronger, we will be prepared to stay true to ourselves in a difficult moment. Buying groceries in the shop from hell Let’s go through the four steps that can help us to stay calm by using a simple example: Buying groceries in the busiest shop in town. Step 1: Embrace your needs Let’s imagine you want […]
Categories: Sketch • Tags: Attachment, Mind, Needs
Sketch: The fear of letting go
by philipp68
A recurring theme in my sketches is the way our mind works. In this sketch I tried to show how we often struggle, because we hold on to ideas what our life should be like, instead of enjoying what is. Holding on Life can feel like a struggle, if we hang on to fixed ideas that will make us happy. A bigger appartment, a new job title, a published book, a loving hug, a healthy body. It’s not that these […]
Categories: Sketch • Tags: Attachment, Fear, Mind
Balanced Action 